Firefox to Gain Speed, Standards, Control

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In an attempt to spark some momentum for Mozilla’s open-source Web browser, Firefox team leader Mike Beltzner delivered a Web video presentation last night outlining the product’s plans for the near future. Beltzner outlined goals and dates for changes to both Firefox’s internals and its user interface, with the caveat that they were still subject to change.

Firefox growth has recently stalled in the face of competition from Google’s Chrome, and enthusiasm has been growing around other recent efforts such as Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview and Norway’s Opera 10.5. Apple, too, has made waves lately with its Safari browser, a version of which is included in its hot CE devices, the iPhone and iPad.

Beltzner listed the three main goals as part of Firefox’s immediate future plans: making Firefox even faster; enabling new open, standard Web technologies (including HTML5); and putting users in full control of the browser, their data, and their overall Web experience.

Beltzner noted that Firefox 3.7 would be ditched in favor of an update to 3.6, called 3.6.4. Both use plug-ins to run in separate processes for improved stability and security. He said unequivocally that the target was to ship version 4 by the end of the year. A beta is planned to hit by the end of June, and the final release should ship sometime from next October to November.

Since the arrival of Chrome just over a year ago, Firefox’s market share has stalled at just under 25 percent, and this has to concern Mozilla, whose browser had enjoyed seemingly unbridled growth over most of its five years of existence. But when questioned about this increasing pressure from competitors, Beltzer unambiguously stated, “We are in it to win it.” But he went on: “It’s no longer the case where it’s all easy wins. There’s hard work to be done here.”

Improving Firefox’s speed was foremost among Beltzner’s priorities. The fact that Chrome, Opera, Safari, and Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview score higher than Firefox on the widely used SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark has to be a motivator for this objective. Firefox has also long trailed these competitors in the time it takes to open the browser app. Beltzner noted that not only does he want Firefox to run faster, but that the interface should be simplified so that it would “seem” faster. But this means taking interface elements away, which could provoke a user backlash.

Speed hasn’t been the only setback for Firefox. The recent fracas over Web video started by Apple has also put Mozilla’s browser in a lonely position. Apple’s Steve Jobs denounced Flash as the standard for Web video, saying that Apple products like the iPad and iPhone would instead favor HTML5’s video solutions. Though Firefox has been an early supporter of HTML5 video too, it’s gone with the less polished (and less popular) Ogg Theora format, where Apple, Microsoft, and Chrome have settled on support for the licensed H.264 video format, which enjoys widespread use on the internet.

Mozilla considers Ogg completely license-free, though there have been doubts raised about its vulnerability to patent claims. While a truly free and open video format would be ideal, the backing by software powerhouses Apple, Google, and Microsoft point to HTML5 video settling on H.264. If that’s the case, Firefox will be the only big browser with an implementation that won’t play most HTML5 videos.

Beltzner’s last point about empowering the user has led to some user interface objectives. Tab treatment figures heavily in this, with “application tabs” similar to those in Chrome OS, and tab “candy” among the ideas. The actual design prototype resembles Opera 10.5’s look, with no toolbars or menus cluttering the browser window, and a very top Firefox button that resembles Opera’s “O” button. A “switch to Tabs” feature, too, will help users navigate more quickly by dropping down other tabs in the address bar.

Syncing, better privacy controls that allow users to easily decide what they want to share with sites, and geolocation features are also on the table for Firefox 4. The new JetPack plugin system and a new extension manager will limit extensions’ ability to affect the entire browser and make programming compatibly easier. Better on-page search with highlighting is also in development.

Under the hood, some new capabilities for developers will appear in the next Firefox. Support for 64-bit platforms will bring Firefox in line with Internet Explorer and Safari. And work is being done on speeding up graphics display using hardware acceleration (one of IE9’s big pushes) using WebGL. Developers get some new tools, as well: Firebug compatibility, a remote JavaScript debugger, web console, web inspector, a new profile manager, and possibly a timer API and memory diagnostic tools.

The presentation emphasized that plans might change, so we shouldn’t take any of this as written in stone. For a complete look at the plan, you can view the video presentation and its accompanying slideshow on Beltzner’s blog. You can also leave feedback on the project by leaving a comment in his Firefox 4 Rypple account.

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